The 2011 census depicts the biggest social upheaval in modern times

A traveller returning to this country after a 10-year absence might be tempted to deploy the cliché that it has “changed out of all recognition” – because it has. Data from the 2011 census, published yesterday, depict the biggest social and cultural upheaval in modern times.

Labour’s decade of virtually unchecked immigration has seen the number of foreign-born residents rise by nearly three million – to 7.5 million – since the 2001 census. It has left this country less white, more ethnically diverse and less Christian. More than one million households do not use English as a first language. The white British make up 80 per cent of the population of England and Wales and in London are now in a minority. There are a million Muslims living here, while the number of self-professed Christians has fallen by four million. All the while, social structures are changing rapidly. For the first time, fewer than half of households contain a married couple.

These profound changes are to some extent a London phenomenon. The capital is a melting-pot city, much as New York was a century ago. It is now more ethnically diverse than any in the world, as its cultural vibrancy testifies. And many of the changes have been welcome and economically beneficial, as people with energy and talent flocked to these shores.

Yet at the same time this unplanned expansion has placed immense strain on public services, particularly schools and hospitals, and created social tensions in poorer communities. Fortunately, the other big change is that in 2001, any politician who dared talk about immigration would be routinely accused by the Left of playing the race card. Now we have seen the consequences of Labour’s irresponsible open-door policy, the subject is no longer taboo.